


Highlights

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-21 00:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11346150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Even in his sleep Rumple spins.





	Highlights

Belle had always known about Rumple’s spinning, the tales of the imp who spun straw into gold had been well known through the realm. From her earliest days in the Dark Castle she had seen the wheel and noted how many hours he spent before it lost in his craft. As she’d come to know him better she learned that spinning wasn’t just about magic, this had been his trade since long before he became the Dark One.

She had spotted his nervous habit of rubbing his thumb across his fingers after only a few days in the Dark Castle, it hadn’t taken her long to realise that this gesture was born of his long, long habit of spinning. It was a nervous tic he used frequently around her, but it wasn’t until they were reunited in Storybrooke that she discovered an unusual side effect of his anxious fidgeting.

In the Dark Castle Rumple had hardly slept, the Dark One did not need rest, but Belle had caught him cat-napping on occasion. Even in those rare moments he had not been completely still, the twitchiness that he used so dramatically in his waking hours followed him into sleep. In Storybrooke as Mister Gold he was stiller, more reserved in his movements, but even the Curse couldn’t quell a three centuries old habit. 

They couldn’t leave each other that first night in Storybrooke, as much as his innate chivalry urged him to be cautious, neither of them would bare another moment apart, they had spent to long alone, too long in isolation to relinquish the comfort of each other’s company, no matter what the rules of propriety in this new world or the old one dictated. They curled together in his bed, half-dressed and not caring for anything other than the comfort of the other’s touch. Both had their first truly peaceful sleep in three decades.

Belle woke in the morning light reassured that she was free even though she was held tight in Rumple’s embrace. She eased away from him just enough so she could look at his face, the face she’d dreamed of in a fragmented way during the long years of the Curse. His appearance wasn’t what it had been back home, but she could see the man she’d fallen in love with, the man she’d always seen beneath the scales and glitter. 

He blinked open his eyes, deep brown in this world, but still flecked with gold, and gave her a sleepy smile.

“Not a dream.”

“No dream, I’m here Rumple.”

His eyes roved over her face and then widened in panic as he caught a lock of her hair gently between his fingers. From the corner of her eye Belle saw a flash of gold.

“It would appear I’ve been spinning in my sleep.”

He shyly moved her hair into her line of sight. Belle gasped; this section of her chestnut locks was now a twisted strand of pure gold. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I can fix it.”

He was mesmerised by the golden hair twirling between his fingers, Belle caressed his face, turned his attention to her eyes.

“You told me once that you spin to forget.”

“Not this time, Belle, this was to remember, to believe that you are really here.”

She smiled and brushed his lips with a gentle kiss.

“Then I’ll keep it, to remind us both that we are real.”

Rumple chuckled; “You might not feel that way when you look in a mirror, sweetheart. Sleeping me is not a very tidy spinner.”

She laughed with him, the first genuine sound of joy she had made is so very long, and snuggled further into his arms.

“I trust you will make me presentable, Rumple.”

He kissed the top of her head, “Of course, Belle.”


End file.
